How a College Kid Mastered Viral Comedy, 6 Seconds at a Time

Physical, goofy comedy never gets old, it only evolves. Following in the footsteps of The Three Stooges and Jackass, the newest kid on the pratfall block is an 18-year-old college student from Ohio who’s become a viral hit after shooting and producing pranky videos on Vine.

His name is Logan Paul and at this moment he has 3.1 million followers on the social media site. His Vine compilations are huge hits on YouTube and several companies have tapped him to create their own Vine hits.

“I just think it’s all because I’m doing stuff that no one else is doing,” he says.

Just as the 140-character limit on Twitter inspired new heights of succinct textual creativity, so too has the six-ish second limit of a Vine video produced a new type of snack-sized comedy. Paul has perfected the art of getting straight to the punchline.

Some of his biggest hits, and funniest videos, include trying to breakdance on ice and pretending to swim down the supermarket checkout isle in just a speedo and goggles. He also has an ongoing series in which he tapes himself getting into strangers cars and watching the driver’s reaction. His younger brother, Jake Paul, often is an accomplice.

“I just have a running idea list, hundreds of ideas saved on my phone,” says Logan. “The ideas just roll in. I never really sit down and brainstorm. That’s not how my mind generally works.”

Don’t be fooled into thinking it’s easy to make the videos or rise through the ranks. Paul says he’ll spend five hours shooting one Vine. Sometimes it takes 100 takes to get one snippet of video.

He’s also a tireless self-promoter. When he started shooting Vines he did everything he could to get his name out there. He entered contests, posted on popular sites and tried to get the attention of Vine users with large followings. One of his most important breakthroughs came when he got a re-Vine from Austin Miles Geter, who was already well known.

The acting part is the easiest. He says his personality lends itself to the genre. He was the clown in high school and he’s comfortable making a scene in public.

“I think that’s a big reason it works so well. I’m not really changing anything. I’m just going out and being goofy, which I am anyways,” he says.